Runaway
by dustinthewind23
Summary: With his parents killed in an explosion in the lab, Danny is left to round up the ghosts, and maintain his sanity-which is a battle he is slowly losing. And with Vlad watching over with an evil eye, forgiveness does not come easy to Sam.


**Yes, well this is my first little do-dad on the site…..and I don't know what else to say. :P**

_Disclaimer-Danny Phantom and related characters belong to Nickelodeon Studios. "Runaway" belongs to Thriving Ivory._

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_**I am more than you know, street lights and open roads**_

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Amity Park was a quiet town, except tonight a storm was passing, bringing with it hail, damaging winds, and power outages, and leaving in its wake broken windows, fallen trees, and a massive headache from it all to seventeen year-old Danny Fenton. He lay on his bed, tossing a ratted green tennis ball towards the ceiling. The clock beside his bed read three-fifteen A.M.

He rolled over, taking the blue bed sheets with him, ripping them from the mattress. He moaned audibly. "I hate storms. And there better not be _any_ ghosts out right now", he thought. His ice blue eyes stared at the green numbers of his alarm clock. He lost track of the time he did that, because not ten minutes later, the rain lightened, and he saw black until the gray morning light shone through the windows.

"And that's Dumpty Humpty with their new track off the album "All the Kings Horses", said the disk jockey. "Its seven o'clock on this dark Tuesday morn-"

Danny switched the alarm off with a tired thumb. He stood and stretched, fumbling through his closet for his denim jeans and white shirt. He looked in the mirror and yawned, running his hands through his messy jet black hair.

*******

"Invest in volume shampoo Danny?" Samantha Manson asked as the two walked down the off-white halls of Casper High School.

He shot her a look. Sam grinned devilishly and said, "No seriously, you look like you rolled out of bed with your clothes on today."

"That storm was brutal last night. I don't think it got quiet enough for me to close my eyes till three-thirty. And for the past few nights I haven't been sleeping. I have a gut feeling Vlad is up to something. He's been calling my mom lately. More than normal actually." He tried to stifle a yawn, but it came out anyway, much to the dismay to Tucker Foley.

"That's a nice way to say good morning Danny", he snapped. The trio stopped by Tucker's locker. He looked Danny up and down. "You don't look….too good."

Danny grinned sheepishly. "Sam said the same thing. The thunder and hail kept me up."

The intercom overhead beeped three times. "All students should report to the assembly hall immediately. Again, all students should report the assembly hall immediately."

Sam looked over her shoulder towards the main office. The administrators were talking in a huddle amongst themselves.

"I wonder what's going on. First hour hasn't even began yet. This must be bad or something."

The trio followed the rest of the student body to the assembly hall, with their classmates abuzz with questions and suspicions. Danny's blurred vision was a curse-he ran into one of the school bullies. Dash Baxter.

The burly blonde turned around. "Damn it Fenton, we aren't freshman anymore. Watch where you walk." With a dark glare he turned around.

Dash had bullied Danny since middle school, and it carried over to ninth grade. Danny was a short, lanky teen who always took whatever Dash did to him. Sam usually stood up for him, which led to more ridicule about his masculinity.

But around the end of sophomore year, due to frequent ghost hunting, Danny had filled out his wiry frame and grown about a foot. He now stood over six feet, his chest and arm muscles prominent. His dark hair reached his neck and fell around his high cheekbones, framing his pale but strong features.

When Danny could look Dash in the eye, Dash backed off.

The principal and other administrators stood on the small brown stage in the auditorium, watching the students for the least amount of trouble. Their faces were set as stone, their eyes showing anger and fear.

When the Casper High student body had settled into the red, aged seats, the principal began her speech.

"Students and fellow faculty and staff, our mayor has declared a state of emergency for Amity Park. Following an explosion earlier this morning, there has been an outbreak of ghosts in the town. We were given specific instructions by the police to keep you in here until further notice. School has been cancelled the rest of the week. Please remain calm and do not attempt to leave."

Danny was staring wide eyed into space, with Sam and Tucker trying desperately to pull him out of his trance. Danny blinked.

"I have to do something. I have to get out of here…", he began, but Sam shushed him for students were staring in their direction.

"We all do", she whispered. "You and Tucker try to go to the restroom, Danny, you go ghost in there, and you and Tuck come back and get me. I'll be right here."

"And how do you expect us to bust you out of here Sam?" asked Tucker.

"I'll be on the ground looking for something. Danny, phase me through the floor."

He nodded, and he and Tucker slid down the row, with Tucker narrowly missing stepping on Paulina Sanchez's toes.

"Watch it, you creep", she said in a sultry Spanish accent. He rolled his eyes.

Tucker Foley was still short for eighteen, reaching only about five feet, ten inches. He was still wiry, but filled out his frame nicely. He invested in contacts and sported sideburns. He wore a yellow polo and opted out of cargo pants and boots to factory bleached jeans and dark brown loafers.

He still donned his red beret, which was now an off pink color, due to his stubbornness about getting a new one.

"Mr. Lancer, I need to go to the restroom, and Tucker is here so I won't have to go alone", said Danny. He hoped Sam was right.

Lancer looked at them suspiciously. "You never went before we came in here?"

"No, sir. I've been feeling…sick lately." The circles under his eyes from lack of sleep proved a point.

"You have five minutes." He slid the door open, with Danny and Tucker barely sliding past the overweight, balding English teacher.

When the door closed, Tucker said, "I give Sam credit on that one. And you were able to pull it off. Are you sure you're alright dude?"

Danny ran his hand through his hair. "Been better but I just need to sleep." He swung open the bathroom door and made the transformation from human to ghost-he was a hybrid. His heart stopped, leaving ectoplasm sitting dormant in his blood veins. The chill frosted the mirrors nearby.

Danny grabbed Tuckers' wrist and phased through the wall, the door and eventually floated invisibly back to where they were sitting. Sam was on the floor, attempting to look nonchalant as she looked for something.

Sam had grown to be about five feet, four inches, with her petite structure still in place. She had came out to be evenly proportioned, with a twenty-three inch waist to complete her frame. Her ebony hair reached the middle of her back, and she wore it completely down now. She opted for a neutral lip gloss and black cargo pants that covered most of her combat boots. (Sam needed the pockets for the ghost hunting material). She now donned a maroon tank top with a diamond pendant with the Japanese calligraphy character for hope.

Danny reached up and pulled her quietly through the concrete floor, hoping no other students saw her. The trio now stood in the schools' mass storage area.

"So…what next?" Tucker asked.

"Now I have to figure out who's out of the ghost zone and why, and find the explosion site. I just hope I'm not too late", said Danny wearily.

"There's no better time to start looking now", said Sam hastily. "The sooner we get there, the sooner we can stop what's going on-and whatever's about to happen."

Danny nodded and took hold of their wrists and phased through the wall and flew into the sky. The gray morning mist meant difficult flying conditions for Danny.

"I guess that was some storm, huh", said Tucker, and pointed to some workmen cutting a tree into moveable pieces that had fallen over a house and onto a road.

Sam squinted. "I see flames Danny, I think I see the explosion site."

Skulker appeared out of nowhere and began cackling. "Come to join the party, whelp?"

Danny growled.

"Relax, ghost boy. I'm not going to do anything to you or your friends."

"Why should I even believe that?" Danny sneered.

Skulker shrugged. "I do have a little heart left in this dead soul of mine. After all", he said, pointing his right index finger towards the direction Sam had pointed out, "when you see that mess, you'll wish you were a full ghost." He grinned and flew off.

Danny flew slowly in the direction the ghost had pointed at. He went invisible and drifted down out of the cloud bank. He hovered on the sidewalk near an alley. He let go of his friends and reverted back into human form.

They followed the burning mess until Danny stopped in his tracks.

"…That's my house", he breathed. He broke into a run, Sam and Tucker following suit. They skidded to a stop in front of yellow caution tape. A paramedic turned around and eyed them suspiciously. Her eyes lingered on Danny.

"Are you Daniel Fenton?"

He nodded.

"You will have to come with me, dear. I have some bad news for you."

Danny slid underneath the tape and looked at Sam and Tucker.

"They'll be fine right here", she said. "Follow me."

The remaining two watched Danny and the paramedic walk to a police chief's car. Danny sat down on the hood of the car, with the officer blocking the view of Danny.

"This cannot be good", Tucker said, craning his neck to see Danny's face. His jaw dropped when the officer moved.

Sam covered her mouth and fought back tears. "Danny I….I…oh God I'm so sorry."

Her violet orbs showed much concern while Danny's blue showed no emotion.

Tucker stood in shocked silence, and leaned against the wall of a nearby building. The trio had moved across the street at the request of a fireman. Sam stood looking at Danny, while he stared off into nothing.

She put her arms around him slowly, trying to bring him back to earth. She put her head where his heart was and clung tighter to him. He did the same and rested his chin on the top of her head. He loved the scent of her shampoo-it was the most relaxing thing at the moment.

"I know who's behind this", he whispered so only she could hear him. "Skulker would have killed me back there. I know him. He was given orders not to. He _knew_ we were going that way."

Sam looked up. "Who on earth could do this to you?"

Danny's eyes hardened. "There's only one person. Vlad."

Her eyes widened. "No, he wouldn't. He loves your mom. He wouldn't have killed her."

Danny was staring at nothing again. "You can only love someone so much till it becomes deadly Sam. And that's his case. When I find him I am going to rip him into pieces. Masters and Plasmius."

A little metal bug crawled out of the sewer they were standing near. It opened its eyes and zeroed in on Danny.

"Right where I want you, boy", said Vlad. "If this didn't catch your attention I don't know what would." He grinned, his teeth glistening in the firelight.

**Almost five pages. I'm so proud. :**


End file.
